


Grey Clouds an Evening Gown

by Writing_Bearifficly



Series: Black and White and Red All Over [1]
Category: Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019)
Genre: Angst, Angst without a happy ending, Based on a School Assignment, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Sad, Sad Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 21:18:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17629871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Writing_Bearifficly/pseuds/Writing_Bearifficly
Summary: February Writing Challenge: Prompt 1: RedThe challenge I am taking on is to takethese promptsand write a Carmen/Player friendship ficlet a day.This story was based off of a school assignment. I was asked to write either an epic or an elegy. I chose the elegy. The title comes from a line in said elegy.





	Grey Clouds an Evening Gown

**Author's Note:**

> February Writing Challenge: Prompt 1: Red
> 
> The challenge I am taking on is to take [these prompts](https://manyprompts.tumblr.com/post/182378845624/february-2019-prompt-challenge-works-tagged) and write a Carmen/Player friendship ficlet a day.
> 
> This story was based off of a school assignment. I was asked to write either an epic or an elegy. I chose the elegy. The title comes from a line in said elegy.

"Red, are you all right?!"

Upon hearing no response, Player leaned towards his computer screen, feeling his anxiety increase each time he heard an attack, a strike, a blow. There was a fight going on somewhere in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Carmen Sandiego was involved in it. From what Player could hear, Carmen was severely outnumbered, and he knew Zack and Ivy were serving as distractions to make sure VILE didn't get in any  _more_ reinforcements. Of course, jury was out on how long that would last, and Player had his doubts that they had more than fifteen minutes left before the bait-and-switch ruse was broken.

The entire situation was nerve-wracking, and Player  _hated_ it.

He tapped a few keys and brought up his tracking software. Carmen was still in the same building. Zack and Ivy were on opposite sides of Santa Fe, constantly on the move, yet starting to circle back towards Carmen. The police were heading towards Carmen's location - Player didn't know who gave them the tip, but he certainly wasn't complaining. He did some quick calculations to determine where they were compared to Carmen, and how fast they were going.

"Backup is coming soon, Red. Just hang in there."

The fight continued, and Player knew that no matter the outcome, he likely would not be sleeping well that night. Even though it was supposed to be raining all night, a noise he usually found relaxing, he just wouldn't be able to relax. The fight was too strong, the sounds too terrifying, his best friend in too much danger. The current rainfall already wasn't helping. He  _should_ get away from this fight, but he knew he couldn't. He needed to be there, should Carmen, Zack, or Ivy need him. He needed to support them, he needed to stand with them, despite being on the other side of the continent.

The police were only a block away now. "Just a couple more minutes," he muttered. A couple more minutes and the mess would be over.

He heard Carmen grunt in pain. " _If VILE wants me coming back to them,_ " she said, voice strained, " _they're misled. Stealing, I can do. But murder... nothing ever justifies that. And I refuse to support any organization that goes that far._ "

There was a long pause of silence. The police pulled up outside the building. Any second now, and the fight would officially be over. Even if Carmen got arrested, it wouldn't be hard for her to break out before VILE found her. She just needed to hang on for a few more minutes, and--

There was a sound of electricity, a bloodcurdling scream-- then nothing. Carmen vanished from Player's tracker.

"Red?" Player screamed, frantically typing away, trying to get her back online. " _Carmen?!_ "

He kept typing, trying to find  _some_ way of knowing that Carmen was okay, that she was fine, that she was safe. But he couldn't get her back online, and the news had nothing, not that he expected any differently. He quickly sent a message to Zack and Ivy, requesting an update on Carmen, then went back to trying to get her back online.

What felt like hours passed. Zack and Ivy made it to Carmen's last known location. Player found himself too frazzled to sit still and paced around his house; his parents gave him some odd looks at him being outside his room for once, but thankfully said nothing.

He was making a tenth round around the house when his phone rang.

He nearly pounced on it, which earned another odd look from his mom, but one that he chose to ignore in favor of answering the call. "Ivy? What's going on over there?"

" _Player... I don't know how to tell you this..._ " Ivy's voice was wavering; the girl was clearly shaken. " _But Carm..._ "

"Please tell me she's at  _least_ alive," Player pleaded.

here was an agonizingly long silence on the other end, which said millions. " _I'm sorry, Player,_ " Ivy eventually said.

No.

No, that couldn't be.

The hacker boy sat down, trying to process everything. Suddenly the rain felt way more appropriate than it did when it started. This just...

Carmen couldn't be gone.

He listened as Ivy told the story of what evidently happened, all lining up with what he heard through the communicator. That Carmen went up against too many VILE operatives, and one used Dr. Bellum's crackle rod to finish the job and end Carmen's campaign against them once and for all. As Ivy went on, he forced himself to accept the cold reality.

Carmen Sandiego was dead.

"Sweetie?" his mom asked a few seconds after he got off the phone. "What's wrong?"

Player broke and told her everything. How he was best friends with a master thief, how he helped her escape from a top-secret crime empire, how they worked together along with a couple of thieves from Boston to take down said crime empire, how said crime empire just killed his best friend. His mom listened and held him close, not once getting mad at him for his shifty company and morally-grey-and-kinda-illegal activities. She made it clear that she was there for him, that she would always be there for him, that although she wouldn't pretend to know the challenges he was facing, she would support him through his trials.

In the following weeks, he kept in touch with Zack and Ivy. Zack revealed that they were trying to get a funeral arranged in Buenos Aires, which Player agreed was a wise place to hold it. The siblings proved to be an important source of encouragement in the trying times, and he was grateful for.

When they agreed on a date for the funeral, he brought it up to his parents. They immediately agreed to get him to Buenos Aires for that date.

The funeral fast approached, and Player soon found himself in a cemetery in Buenos Aires. Carmen did not have a lot of friends outside of VILE, so it was a small affair. Player was there, as well as his parents. Zack and Ivy were also there. And, much to Player's surprise, Shadowsan also showed up - how he even knew they would be there, Player didn't know, and didn't want to ask. That was all in attendance.

When the funeral ended, Player gently placed a hand on the tombstone. Carmen was his closest friend, the first person outside of his family who he felt like he could thoroughly trust. They trusted each other with their greatest secrets, their fears, their worries. They stayed together through the good and the bad, in every tight spot, whenever they were in between a rock and a hard place. They  _loved_ each other, and now...

The weight of his grief became too overbearing, and he collapsed and sobbed.

As the sky overhead blazed red, Player knew that his sister was truly gone.


End file.
